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 Review by zvolts 
UPDATED: 56 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 642 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Mikado,Alcona,MI
 Contract price not specified.
 "It's faster than dial up"
 "Expensive, Installer didn't properly ground the equipment"
 "It's the only high speed choice I had"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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HN9000 - KA band service
Moved into upper Michigan a year ago and quickly found I had no traditional broadband Internet options. My house is surrounded by ridges and tall trees so EVDO isn't an option, either. I read many reviews of the satellite providers and primarily based on those reviews decided to stay away from satellite. For the last year I've been poking along on dial up, and I must say...... dial up absolutely sucks! Yeah, I know.. big surprise. So over the last year I've been talking to folks in my area and found that most of those with satellite Internet service were, by and large, pretty happy with their service. I checked with WildBlue and for whatever reason they don't do installs in this area. Next stop was Hughesnet. Decided on the Pro package and with some trepidation eventually clicked on the "submit order" button. I figure that if things go south on me I'll take them up on their 30-day money back guarantee. With free installation I won't be out much.
The very next day (Thursday) I received a call from the designated installer to arrange for the install. The next available slot was the upcoming Saturday, with the standard between 1:00pm - 4:00pm deal. The installer arrived at about 3:00pm Saturday and did what appears so far to be an adequate job of it. He mounted the dish on the roof in an area that has good access to the southern sky and will be easy to get at for any future servicing needs. The installer took about an hour and a half to complete the install with no major glitches. He was helpful and courteous.
Edit: Installer didn't ground anything. If you're having a Hughesnet system installed, do yourself a favor and do a bit of research about how the system (dish, cable and modem) is supposed to be grounded. Then make sure the installer does it right.
The first thing I did was a speed test, which I've done several times this weekend (it's now Sunday). Best case scenario with my plan is 1.2/200. I've been consistently getting 900/200. The latency isn't as bad as I thought it would be (about 1 second – 1000ms). All in all not too bad for a weekend.
It's too early to comment on some of the other review criteria, but I'll post an update after 30 days or so.
Update:
I'm mostly a happy camper, as far as the service goes. After reading so many of these reviews, I guess I'm the exception in that view. I think the key may be having realistic expectations of the service. I did research on the service way before I signed up. I expected a high latency, capped (FAP), relatively expensive service where connection speeds would vary depending on weather and many other factors. Not surprisingly, thats what I got and I'm fine with that. After living with dial-up for a year I'm just glad to have an alternative.
I did speed tests throughout the month and they were all over the place, but never anywhere as slow as dial-up. The connection has been solid. I lost Internet access for about an hour 1 day (tests showed I could communicate with the satellite, just couldn't get to the Internet). We've had 3 solid days of overcast skies and rain and surprisingly I've had a decent connection the whole time. I was worried how susceptible the connect was to storms. So far, so good.
I have no need for their email services, so I haven't used them. I haven't had to deal with tech support, so no informed opinion there.
Bottom line: My 30-day trial is about up and I'm sticking with it.
Followup comments:  
Opticwonders
Premium
join:2009-03-31
united state | Dont forget about the cap! You are aware of the monthly limit, right? | |
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zvolts
Premium
join:2005-02-04
Mikado, MI | Re: Dont forget about the cap! Yes. Not thrilled about it, but my daily FAP limit is greater than by dial up downstream total for the whole month of March, according to my firewall stats. | |
| zalternate
join:2007-02-22
BC
 ·TELUS
| KA versus KU reviews You probably have the newer KA band service via the Spaceway3 satellite. A lot of the ,shall we say, 'negative' reviews here are mainly for the KU band service. Would be nice if the users could post their service platform in their reviews.
There have been some glitches with the KA band service but people are more happy with it. Even though they would be more happy with wireline or a good ground based wireless Internet platform.
And WildBlue's beams are probably sold out if you can not get a install from them.
--
Consumer Rights is more than just a suggestion. | |
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zvolts
Premium
join:2005-02-04
Mikado, MI | Re: KA versus KU reviews Yes indeed, I am on the KA band service (HN9000).
Good suggestion about including the type of service in reviews. I've updated mine accordingly. | |
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Hello88
@direcway.com
| Hughes HN9000 - Elite Plan I have been a Hughes.net subscriber for about 3 years. I was on the Pro Plus Plan and got inconsistent speeds....sometimes very slow during peak hours. But, this is the only option I have- - other than dial up. My service was almost always up and running, however. Very few interruptions.
One month ago I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to the HN9000 router and to the Elite plan. Yes the price tag is steep at $119 per month. But, my speeds are much, much better (even during peak hours) and more consistent. I am on a new satellite now and am getting 2100 kbps mps and uploads of 300 kbps consistently. Latency is less than 1 sec. I'm much happier and pleased and finally feel like I'm getting what I'm paying for. | |
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